ASSIGNMENT #1 For seven days, rewrite the passage below in a notebook. (Do not type it; rewrite this long hand.) Each day should be a new page. Don't rush as you rewrite it. Focus on the words, on being neat, and on making each word important as you write it. Please do not complete this assignment by simply writing it seven times in one sitting. One time each day for seven day. They do not have to be consecutive days, but try not to let more than two days pass between writings.
I was beginning the lifelong task of tuning my own gauges. I was there to brace myself for leaving. I was having my childhood. But I was haunting it, as well, practically reading it, and preventing it. How much noticing could I permit myself without driving myself round the bend? Too much noticing and I was too self-conscious to live; I trapped and paralyzed myself, and dragged my friends down with me, so we couldn't meet each other's eyes, my own loud awareness damning us both. Too little noticing, though -- I would risk much to avoid this -- and I would miss the whole show. I would wake on my deathbed and say, What was that?
ASSIGNMENT #2 As you read the novel, annotate the text. Use the guidelines below on what it means to annotate as adapted from "AP11 - Language and Composition". Note: since your novel is a school text book, you cannot write directly in it. However, you will need two things to complete this assignment: post it note tabs and a notebook. When you find something to annotate, put a post it tab where that line of text starts, with the tab sticking out. In your notebook, write the page number, the beginning part of the sentence in quotations in case that tab moves, and your reactions to it as directed below. When you finish reading the novel, DO NOT remove the post it tabs. You will need them for an activity the first few days of school.
What Does it Mean to “Annotate”? By definition, to annotate means (verb) to add notes to a text or diagram giving explanation or comments. Annotation is an exercise to keep us thinking as we read. It is the first initial proof of your thoughts and reactions to what you read. It helps you trace your thinking as you read, enabling you to map out segments that were important to you. By the time you're done reading, these notes help you see patterns, language, questions, organization, etc. the writer uses for a particular purpose. To annotate means to "talk" to the text almost as if the text is your best friend telling you a story and you interrupt with a comment or question. Annotating a text is more than simply highlighting or underlining. You are engaging in the text, wondering why the author chose particular words and sentence patterns over millions of others. Get used to annotating as we will use it constantly in any work that we read to help us become stronger readers.
What does annotation look like? If you remember what my novels look like as I'm teaching from them, it looks very colorful! By the time you are done with the novel, you should have at least 10 areas that you have annotated....and that's definitely a minimum to get you started. So what should you respond to as you read? Anything that jumps out at you or seems important. This might include, but is not limited to:
Big ideas (the author/character has an epiphany or moment of major insight)
Important information (events, people, causes, etc.)
Patterns in diction (how an author uses language and word choice)
Powerful use of figurative language, metaphor or symbolism
A connection between one text and another (think of other novels/authors you have read both for school and on your own and compare)
Particular descriptions or images (use the author's words to create pictures either in your head or draw them out if you are able)
Questions the text raises
Themes and motifs
Responses to tone or mood (attitude and feeling)
Structure (how the text is organized)
Vocabulary-any words you don’t know, look them up to fully understand the text
Bottom line: “Talk” to the text as you read. Let it know what you’re thinking, feeling, asking, noticing. Write your thoughts, circle powerful words, note effective or thought-provoking passages. While you do not want to annotate so much as to write a novel yourself, you should read with pen in hand and make notations regularly throughout the text. Your annotation should be obvious and meaningful.
ASSIGNMENT #3 Reread 147-149. Towards the end of that section, she says, "I had essentially been handed my own life". Annotate that paragraph. What are you thoughts on her reaction to her parents' lack of interest? Then look at other areas you annotated in the novel. What connections can you make between her moments of enlightenment that show a common theme in An American Childhood? Type or write your response using your annotations. Aim for a full page handwritten or adjust that if you type it double spaced.
ASSIGNMENT #4 Compare the paragraph you annotated from Assignment #3 to the interview segment of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball star Kevin Durant. Analyze the parental involvement in Annie's and Kevin's childhood. What are their reactions to that involvement? How are their childhoods, their reactions, their parents' raising children strategies similar? How are they different? Broaden the scope beyond these two people, including connections to other famous people and their parents' involvement in their lives. Respond to these concepts, offering your opinions, thoughts if their parents were reversed, and other ideas. Alternative choice: pick one of the USA Olympic athletes with a story about parental involvement similar to Kevin Durant (opposite of Annie Dillard's parents' approach) and do the same assignment (see Gabby Douglas video).
ASSIGNMENT #1
For seven days, rewrite the passage below in a notebook. (Do not type it; rewrite this long hand.) Each day should be a new page. Don't rush as you rewrite it. Focus on the words, on being neat, and on making each word important as you write it. Please do not complete this assignment by simply writing it seven times in one sitting. One time each day for seven day. They do not have to be consecutive days, but try not to let more than two days pass between writings.
I was beginning the lifelong task of tuning my own gauges. I was there to brace myself for leaving.
I was having my childhood. But I was haunting it, as well, practically reading it, and preventing it.
How much noticing could I permit myself without driving myself round the bend? Too much noticing
and I was too self-conscious to live; I trapped and paralyzed myself, and dragged my friends down
with me, so we couldn't meet each other's eyes, my own loud awareness damning us both. Too little
noticing, though -- I would risk much to avoid this -- and I would miss the whole show. I would wake
on my deathbed and say, What was that?
ASSIGNMENT #2
As you read the novel, annotate the text. Use the guidelines below on what it means to annotate as adapted from "AP11 - Language and Composition". Note: since your novel is a school text book, you cannot write directly in it. However, you will need two things to complete this assignment: post it note tabs and a notebook. When you find something to annotate, put a post it tab where that line of text starts, with the tab sticking out. In your notebook, write the page number, the beginning part of the sentence in quotations in case that tab moves, and your reactions to it as directed below. When you finish reading the novel, DO NOT remove the post it tabs. You will need them for an activity the first few days of school.
What Does it Mean to “Annotate”? By definition, to annotate means (verb) to add notes to a text or diagram giving explanation or comments. Annotation is an exercise to keep us thinking as we read. It is the first initial proof of your thoughts and reactions to what you read. It helps you trace your thinking as you read, enabling you to map out segments that were important to you. By the time you're done reading, these notes help you see patterns, language, questions, organization, etc. the writer uses for a particular purpose. To annotate means to "talk" to the text almost as if the text is your best friend telling you a story and you interrupt with a comment or question. Annotating a text is more than simply highlighting or underlining. You are engaging in the text, wondering why the author chose particular words and sentence patterns over millions of others. Get used to annotating as we will use it constantly in any work that we read to help us become stronger readers.
What does annotation look like? If you remember what my novels look like as I'm teaching from them, it looks very colorful! By the time you are done with the novel, you should have at least 10 areas that you have annotated....and that's definitely a minimum to get you started. So what should you respond to as you read? Anything that jumps out at you or seems important. This might include, but is not limited to:
Bottom line: “Talk” to the text as you read. Let it know what you’re thinking, feeling, asking, noticing. Write your thoughts, circle powerful words, note effective or thought-provoking passages. While you do not want to annotate so much as to write a novel yourself, you should read with pen in hand and make notations regularly throughout the text. Your annotation should be obvious and meaningful.
ASSIGNMENT #3
Reread 147-149. Towards the end of that section, she says, "I had essentially been handed my own life". Annotate that paragraph. What are you thoughts on her reaction to her parents' lack of interest? Then look at other areas you annotated in the novel. What connections can you make between her moments of enlightenment that show a common theme in An American Childhood? Type or write your response using your annotations. Aim for a full page handwritten or adjust that if you type it double spaced.
ASSIGNMENT #4
Compare the paragraph you annotated from Assignment #3 to the interview segment of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball star Kevin Durant. Analyze the parental involvement in Annie's and Kevin's childhood. What are their reactions to that involvement? How are their childhoods, their reactions, their parents' raising children strategies similar? How are they different? Broaden the scope beyond these two people, including connections to other famous people and their parents' involvement in their lives. Respond to these concepts, offering your opinions, thoughts if their parents were reversed, and other ideas.
Alternative choice: pick one of the USA Olympic athletes with a story about parental involvement similar to Kevin Durant (opposite of Annie Dillard's parents' approach) and do the same assignment (see Gabby Douglas video).